Soft & chewy pumpkin granola bars – with wholesome ingredients you can actually pronounce.
No-Bake • Gluten-Free • Vegan
These wholesome pumpkin granola bars are the perfect snack for lunch boxes or after school, and they freeze well too.
You can easily double the recipe and make up a big batch to freeze and have on hand any time an afternoon craving hits.
I added mini chocolate chips to the batter, but you can customize the bars to make different flavors by substituting dried cranberries, shredded coconut, raisins, flaxmeal or chia seeds, etc.
With half a can of leftover pumpkin needing to be used up yesterday afternoon, I initially wanted to make my favorite Creamy Pumpkin Vegan Risotto.
But then I saw the line at Trader Joes – it began at the front door and wound all the way around the store, with people doing their shopping while moving along in the line.
Was something going on yesterday that I don’t know about?
I haven’t seen the lines so bad since the day before a snowstorm back in January. It was like they were giving away Trader Joes!
I walked into the store, saw the line, and walked right back out.
To make the homemade pumpkin granola bars, simply stir the dry ingredients together, add the wet ingredients, and press as firmly as you can into an 8×8 pan.
If you’re doing the no-bake version, just chill until firm, and enjoy!
For baked granola bars, cook them on the oven’s center rack for 18 minutes (at 350 F), let cool, and slice into bars.
Pumpkin Granola Bars
Adapted from Chewy Healthy Granola Bars
Clean Eating Pumpkin Granola Bars
Ingredients
- 1 cup rolled oats
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice
- 1/4 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 cup rice crispies (brown, white, or gluten-free)
- 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp oat flour, or process oats in a blender to make your own (55g)
- 2 tbsp melted coconut or vegetable oil, or 2 tbsp nut butter of choice (22g)
- 1/4 cup raw agave or honey
- 2 tbsp brown sugar OR 1/16 tsp uncut stevia
- 1/4 cup pumpkin puree
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup mini chocolate chips, optional (or sub dried fruit of choice)
Instructions
Line an 8-inch pan with parchment paper. Set aside. Stir together all dry ingredients in a large bowl. (Make sure they are well-stirred – you don’t want any strong metallic taste from a clump of baking soda when you take a bite!) Whisk liquid ingredients together in a separate bowl, then stir dry into wet. Keep stirring until all of the batter is moist. Transfer to the prepared pan. Press down firmly, using a second sheet of parchment or wax paper. Press down as hard as you can. Chill until firm. (They are firmer if you use coconut oil.) For baked granola bars, cook on the center rack 18 minutes at 350 F, then press down firmly again. Let cool completely before cutting into bars.
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For baked granola bars, what temperature for the oven?
350. Sorry about that. Adding it in now. Fahrenheit.
If I make these RAW, would I still need to add baking soda? Isnt that just to make things rise in the oven? Thanks 🙂
It’s actually for flavor. I know that sounds strange, but it gives no-bake recipes a bit of a salty “cookie dough” flavor.
Thanks for all the great recipes!!! I made these today and I took the sweeteners out, but kept the choclate chips, soo good!!! and then I made them with cranberries, chia seeds and shredded coconut, also without sweeteners, really good too, salty and nice! I baked them but I think I will try the next batch without baking, I like the chewy bars aswell:)
Will they turn out the same if I don’t put the rice crispies in?
As with everything else I’ve made from this site, these are delicious! The first round, they didn’t set firmly enough, but the second time, I froze the batch and then cut and refroze individually. They’re perfect alone and great crumbled in with some Greek yogurt.
UGH, the line from Trader Joe’s was HORRENDOUS before Thanksgiving! I can imagine what it’s going to be like for Christmas! :\ anyways, these pumpkin granola bars seem to die for! I love my granola bars clean and chocolatey too!
I’ve been following this blog for a while and finally had the opportunity to make something.
I chose to bake these. The only items I altered was subbing sweet potato puree for the pumpkin puree and coconut sugar + molasses instead of the brown sugar.
I added, along with the chocolate chips, dried cherries & dried blueberries.
The result was a bar that looked great but were very very dry (choking dry).
Tomorrow morning I’m dipping them in chocolate (that seems to solve all problems!)
Did I do something wrong???
Hi, sweet potato is much higher in starch and therefore drier than pumpkin.
I just made this recipe. It was really tasty but came out very dry. I did add dried cherries and soaked dates, but it was still dry. What do you think I can add to make them moister? And I did bake it. Thank you. I’d like to try it again.
I’m noticing that the ingredients are almost identical to the ‘Chewy Healthy Granola Bars’, except that this recipe calls for only one cup of oats. Is this correct? I just put these in the oven and they seem very wet and loose to me.
Hi! Yes I’ve made these and the liquid will cook down/ evaporate in the oven 🙂
There is one big problem with these granola bars: they are so delicious that my kids roar through them at high speeds and I am on my third batch this weekend! I added another few tablespoons of almond butter to hold it together better, but overall this is a marvelous base recipe, very adaptable — date paste for the honey/agave, etc.